DAYTON (OH) — Needing a win to keep their A10 Tourney hopes alive, the Dayton Flyers had a lot to play for Saturday evening at Baujan Field. Unfortunately, UD may be out of the picture after a hard-fought, if not sloppy 2-2 tie against the Xavier Musketeers in the regular season finale. At 4-4-1 in the A10, UD needed a win to help their postseason A10 tourney chances. UD likely ends the season at 5-13-1 (4-4-1) while the Muskies finish 10-4-3 (4-3-2). The A10 schedule completes on Sunday with Tourney teams announced shortly thereafter.

The last home game of the season sent off a class of six seniors: Michael Deyhle, Amoh Kwaku, Jack Pearson, Jonny Phipps, Tyler Picard, and John Sobey. With two losses last weekend to put the A10 record at 4-4, a logjam for the final spots in the postseason A10 tourney remained up for grabs. The Flyers had nothing to lose and a win on Saturday would salvage some shine on an otherwise disappointing season.

The first 20 minutes of the first half looked promising for Head Coach Dennis Currier’s squad. After trading blows early on and getting a feel for the match, each side did their best to get balls forward and attack the opposing goal. The approaches were polar opposites however as Xavier worked the ball on the ground while the Flyers kicked long-ball and tried to spring one or two forwards against four or five defenders.

For a while, it worked. Dayton was able to work toward the corner flags and cross balls into the Xavier box. The run of play however was a struggle all evening for the Flyers as they lacked the patience, confidence, and tactical imperative to work the ball up-field with wall passes, overlaps, and runs to the weak side.

While Xavier had much better luck piecing together good soccer with the ball on the ground, their first goal of the match came on a piece of individual brilliance after Gino DePaoli bent a free kick from 23 yards out to the upper 90 for the 1-0 Muskie lead in the 31st minute.

The Flyers would respond however, though the equalizer two minutes later required a bit of good fortune. Evan McCreary blasted a shot on frame after cleaning up a deflection in the box. The ball caromed off a defender and beat the Xavier goalkeeper diving the wrong way.

Now 1-1, it was anyone’s match and the next goal might win it. The remainder of the half turned more in Xavier’s favor as they continued to show good patience by linking up passes within the middle of the field to control possession and play keep-away. The good play however never resulted in goals.

Halftime stats favored Dayton in shots 11-7 and corner kicks 3-1.

The second half was dominated by Xavier as the Flyers fell apart in terms of possession and patience — though the Flyers did continue to play hard and hustle. Despite the lopsided run of play, UD struck again in the 57th minute on a corner kick/header by Jack Pearson at the near post, courtesy of good service by Abe Keller. Now leading 2-1 with a half hour remaining, the Flyers had a golden opportunity to hunker down and hold on for the important victory — and perhaps punch their ticket to the A10 postseason tournament.

Xavier answered in the 65th minute however to tie the match at 2-2, thanks to a great buildup that started in the back and finished with a goal inside the Dayton box.

The last 30 minutes were Xavier’s best effort of the evening as they dissected UD with precision passing that sprung open players all over the field, especially on the wings where overapping mids and backs caught UD ball-watching.

Dayton tried to counter with more long balls sent out of the back line, but each time the service tried to find one or two forwards being marked by four or five defenders. The numbers were never there to take advantage and XU made easy work of the service by picking them off and turning them into extended possession of their own.

Within the midfield, Xavier did well to move forward with pace. Knocking the ball around and looking well-organized, they put significant pressure on the Flyer defense over the final 10 minutes of regulation. The Flyers stiffened up defensively and with the help of terrific diving saves by UD goalkeeper Alec Storm, UD forced overtime.

Each team had their chances in the overtime periods. Storm came up huge on a diving save to keep Dayton in it, while Abe Keller hit the crossbar on a long distance shot late in the match that almost won it for the Flyers. Both sides battled hard to the end and the monstrous crowd of 2,137 at Baujan Field — the largest I’ve ever seen — appreciated the effort, if not the product on the field. In a match with an astonishing 57 shots, many were well off target or not overly threatening.

XU finished with 32 shots while Dayton had 25. The stats over-play the offense however as the match played out relatively conventional in terms of quality scoring chances.

Dayton finishes the regular season at 5-13-1, though they salvage a .500 record inside the A10 (4-4-1) after starting the season 1-11. With A10 matches still to play on Sunday, Dayton will learn its slim A10 tourney fate in the next 24hrs as it may come down to tie-breakers and head-to-head results.

The highlights were few and far between over the entire season however as Dayton never found an identity that showed a willingness to play possession soccer and work the ball on the ground. Without experienced target forwards with a size advantage to play long-ball, the strategy proved unsuccessful on most occasions and limited UD’s chances by providing the opposition with easy defensive assignments.

The Flyers send off six seniors but return the bulk of the team for 2012. They are young and there is athleticism in most parts of the lineup, but there is a mountain of improvement to be made in order for Dayton to once again be a contender both inside and outside the A10.